Handmade Handplanes

Two handplanes in the Krenov style. Both are smoothing planes. The one on the left in the first image is made of jatoba, the one on the right is bubinga.

While I love my WWII vintage Stanleys and my Lee Valley low angled block plane, a few years ago when I started woodworking a friend of mine gave me an old Mathieson and Son wooden jack he’d got at an auction. Tuned up it cuts fairly well and I liked the feel of wood on wood, such that I decided to make a Krenov style plane for myself. After making the first one in bubinga, I decided to make a second one as a christmas gift for the same friend as both a thanks for getting me started and an I blame you for the mess I’m in with this addiction. I had a couple of board feet of jatoba I’d picked up in a shorts pile a few years ago, that I hadn’t found a good use for yet and this seemed like a good excuse to use it, so the second gift one was born.

LOVE IT! LOVE IT! I really really enjoy shopmade tools. Not only to look at or make, but also to use. Especially planes. I have made a few myself. Rykenology is a favorite pastime of mine. Rykenology is the study of handplanes. I am a avid collector. Well done.

-- Div @ the bottom end of Africa. "A woodworker's sharpest tool should be his mind."

Nice looking planes. With the tool kick that I have been on lakely, it is just a matter of time till I attempt to make some of these. I am curious, is that a strike button on the tail end? If so, what did you use for the strike button?